The Charlotte Bobcats asked for and received permission to interview Cleveland Cavaliers assistant Nate Tibbetts for their head coaching job, the Cavs confirmed Tuesday.

Tibbetts, 35, was retained by the Cavaliers after they fired head coach Byron Scott and replaced him with Mike Brown last week. Tibbetts also interviewed with the Bobcats last spring before they hired Mike Dunlap.

Dunlap lasted a single 21-61 season in Charlotte before the Bobcats fired him last week.

Before joining Scott’s staff, Tibbetts was a successful development-league coach.

Celtics players and coach Doc Rivers spoke in support of Jason Collins Tuesday after Collins revealed in Sports Illustrated on Monday that he was gay. Rivers said Collins called him a few days ago to share the news with his former coach.

“We had talked about it recently,” said Rivers. “When he called me to tell me, you could tell he wanted to tell me. I told him before he said it, ‘Jason I could care less about what you’re about to tell me.’ And that’s how I feel. I honestly feel that way.

“It’s a non-factor to me, and I know it is a factor to a lot of people. I’ve never understood why anyone cares what someone else does. And I told Jason that it will be a non-issue eventually, but it will not be right now.”

Mike Dunleavy has served as a valuable sixth man for the Bucks during the past two seasons.

And the 32-year-old guard-forward said Monday he would be open to returning.

Dunleavy scored 17 points and grabbed five rebounds in Milwaukee’s 88-77 loss to Miami in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference playoffs Sunday as the Heat completed a four-game sweep.

“My contract’s up so I’m just going to have to figure out where that leaves me,” Dunleavy said. “Honestly I haven’t given a lot of thought to it.

“I like being here; I grew up here. I signed as a free agent here. I’m willing to come back. I’ve got to talk to the team and see what they want to do and go from there.”

Dunleavy signed a two-year, $7 million deal with Milwaukee in the summer of 2011. He averaged 12.3 points and provided a spark off the bench in 55 games during the lockout-shortened season, then averaged 10.5 points and 3.9 rebounds in 75 games during the past season.

The Toronto Raptors, emboldened by the news that the Sacramento Kings apparently won’t be moving to Seattle, have ramped up their pursuit of Phil Jackson to be their new team president, according to sources close to the situation.

Sources told ESPN.com that the Raptors — now being run by former Los Angeles-based sports mogul Tim Leiweke — regarded the Seattle group that was trying to buy the Kings as the biggest threat to preventing Jackson from seriously considering their pitch.

But now that the Kings appear poised to stay in Sacramento instead of being sold to the consortium led by Jackson fan Chris Hansen, sources say that the Raptors will be pursuing Jackson aggressively this week, believing that they rank as Jackson’s most attractive current option for a new career in management now that he can reunite with Leiweke.

One source close to the situation told ESPN.com that Hansen and Jackson have “hit it off,” sparking league-wide speculation that Jackson would be offered the chance to run the new Sonics in Seattle in the Pat Riley-style role he craves. But with a 12-owner committee recommending Monday that the Kings’ move to Seattle be blocked, Toronto’s seemingly long-shot odds of winning the Jackson sweepstakes would figure to have received a boost.

Jimmy Wergeles, the Knicks’ first and longtime public relations boss, MSG Network’s first p.r. director and a Marine veteran of the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, died, Friday, at 90.

Wergeles began with the Knicks on day one, in 1946, and retired from the Garden in 1985. He became particularly close with Willis Reed, who yesterday called Wergeles, “My go-to man, and one of my best friends.”